- Eye surgery marathon restores sight for some South Africans
Source: SFGate
“Gladys Khoza had missed being able to see her family. Not because they couldn’t visit, but because the 84-year-old had vision problems. Now that has changed. Khoza is one of 133 people whose sight was restored during a ‘marathon’ of free cataract surgeries conducted by doctors in South Africa at two hospitals over two weekends last month. ‘Wow!’ a delighted Khoza whispered as a nurse peeled back a bandage a day after her operation, and the world came back into view. ‘Can you see me?’ the nurse asked. ‘Very well,’ Khoza replied, a big grin on her face. Patients in South Africa’s public health service can be on waiting lists for years for the simple 15-20-minute cataract operation. Officials said some of those who were selected from hospital waiting lists for the surgeries had been waiting since 2019 to see properly again.” (04/04/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/wow-the-eye-surgery-marathon-that-restored-22188841.php
- Netherlands: Police probe explosion outside a pro-Israel Christian center
Source: CBS News
“A small blast outside a pro-Israel Christian center in a central city in the Netherlands is under investigation. The explosion on Friday night caused limited damage at the Israel Centre, which is run by Christians for Israel, a non-profit in the city of Nijkerk, police said. No one was injured. Police appealed for witnesses and said nobody has been arrested. … The incident comes after a string of similar nighttime attacks in Belgium, Britain and the Netherlands that have heightened concerns over antisemitism in the wake of the war in the Middle East.” (04/04/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/netherlands-police-explosion-pro-israel-christian-center/
- Trump seeks $152 million to reopen Alcatraz
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“US President Donald Trump is seeking $152m (£115m) to reopen the infamous Alcatraz prison as part of his proposed budget for the 2027 fiscal year. Located near San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, the site, also known as The Rock, was once regarded as one of America’s most notorious prisons, but has served as a tourist attraction in recent years. The budget request is seeking money ‘to rebuild Alcatraz as a state-of-the-art secure prison facility’, with funds covering the first year of costs. The plan has been met with scepticism by a number of politicians in California, with questions raised about the final cost of the project and the challenges of running Alcatraz as an active prison. The maximum security facility was closed in 1963. As a tourist site, it is currently run by the National Park Service.'” (04/04/26)
- On Easter, Pope Leo Urges World Leaders [sic] to End Wars, Renounce Conquest
Source: US News & World Report
“Pope Leo urged global leaders in his Easter message on Sunday to end the conflicts raging across the world and abandon any schemes for power, conquest or domination. The pope, who has emerged as an outspoken critic of the Iran war, lamented in a special message to the thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square that people ‘are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and becoming indifferent.’ ‘Let those who have weapons lay them down!’ the first U.S. pope exhorted. ‘Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace!’ Leo did not mention any specific conflicts in the message, known as the ‘Urbi et Orbi’ (to the city and the world) blessing. It was unusually brief and direct.” (04/05/26)
- Artemis II toilet acts up again as astronauts speed toward the moon
Source: SFGate
“Now more than halfway to the moon, the Artemis II astronauts prepared for their historic lunar fly-around to push deeper into space than even the Apollo astronauts. On the downside, their toilet is on the blink again. The three Americans and one Canadian are set to reach their destination Monday, photographing the mysterious lunar far side as they zoom around. It is the first moon-bound crew in more than 53 years, picking up where NASA’s Apollo program left off. ‘The Earth is quite small, and the moon is definitely getting bigger,’ pilot Victor Glover reported. Until the Orion capsule’s bathroom is fixed, Mission Control has instructed the astronauts to break out more of the backup urine collection bags. The so-called lunar loo malfunctioned following Wednesday’s liftoff and has been hit-and-miss ever since. A version of the Artemis II toilet was tested on the International Space Station several years ago.” (04/04/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/artemis-ii-astronauts-are-more-than-halfway-to-22188970.php
- Judge blocks Trump’s college admissions data push in 17 states
Source: Politico
“A federal judge blocked President Donald Trump’s admissions data collection for public universities in 17 states, delivering a major blow to his crackdown on the use of race in college admissions. The administration significantly expanded the scope of admissions information colleges must submit to the federal government after Trump issued an August memo directing the Education Department to do so. The move is a key part of a Trump administration effort to probe whether schools are discriminating against applicants based on race. But a group of Democratic attorneys general from 17 states sued in early March to block the data collection.” (04/04/26)
- Germany: Males under 45 may need military approval for long stays abroad
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“German males aged between 17 and 45 may need to seek approval for lengthy stays abroad, under changes introduced as part of a new law which introduced voluntary military service. The Military Service Modernisation Act, which came into force on 1 January, aims to boost defences following threats from Russia in the aftermath of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In a statement sent to the BBC, a defence ministry spokesman confirmed that males aged 17 and older were required to obtain prior approval for stays abroad lasting longer than three months. Under the current law, travel approvals must generally be granted and it remains unclear how the rule would be enforced if breached.” (04/04/26)
- US regime thugs abduct relatives of late Iranian military commander who were living in Los Angeles
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“US federal agents have arrested the niece and grandniece of the late Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani after the Trump administration’s top diplomat, Marco Rubio, revoked their lawful permanent resident status, officials said on Saturday. ‘Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter are now in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement,’ or ICE, the state department said in a statement. In his own statement on social media, Rubio, the US secretary of state, confirmed that the mother-daughter pair are ‘pending removal’ from the US, a development that came after the US and Israeli militaries began waging war on Iran in late February, in part citing an Iranian history of terrorism sponsorship.” (04/04/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/04/soleimani-family-arrested-us-federal-authorities
- Southern California wildfire mostly contained as officials lift many evacuation orders
Source: SFGate
“A smoky wildfire in southern California that broke out a day earlier and prompted evacuation orders was mostly under control Saturday afternoon, fire officials said. Encompassing roughly 6.3 square miles (about 16 square kilometers) in Riverside County, about 64 miles (103 kilometers) east of Los Angeles, the Springs Fire was no longer growing and at least 75% percent contained Saturday, said Terra Fernandez, public safety information specialist for the Riverside County Fire Department. It was 25% contained on Friday. Fire officials also lifted evacuation orders for a large swath of neighborhoods Saturday morning. Fernandez said she expected the rest will be lifted by the end of the day. ‘It’s pretty much under control,’ Fernandez said. The fire was fueled by strong Santa Ana winds with gusts predicted to get up to 45 mph (72 kph) on Saturday. But winds had ‘dissipated a bit’ since Friday, helping the efforts of fire crews, Fernandez said.” (04/04/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/springs-fire-in-southern-california-reaches-45-22189079.php
- Trump seeks $1.5 trillion for military spending in 2027 budget request
Source: The Hill
“President Trump is seeking $1.5 trillion in [military] spending as part of the White House’s fiscal 2027 budget request, a roughly 40 percent increase from 2026 funding levels. The proposal released Friday said a base of $1.1 trillion will be specifically for the Department of Defense, while $350 billion will be requested through Congress’s budget reconciliation process for critical Administration priorities’ like more munitions and [military] industrial base expansions. It also mentions the president’s planned ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense system.” (04/03/26)
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5814887-15t-defense-budget-request/
- UK: Metro officers taken off duty for misplacing weapons
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Five Metropolitan Police officers have been removed from front-line duties after a bag containing firearms and a Taser was left on a London street, the force has said. The bag, which was discovered by a member of the public on Tuesday evening, was found outside London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan’s home, The Sun reports. ‘At this stage it is believed the bag was misplaced by on-duty officers a short time before the member of the public located it,’ the police said in a statement. The Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards has said it is reviewing the incident. Inside the bag was a sub-machine gun, a pistol, Taser and some ammunition, according to reports. The force said: ‘At around 21:40 BST a member of the public called police after finding a bag containing Met-issued firearms and a Taser on a street in south London.'” (04/04/26)
- Sudan: Paramilitary forces kill at least 10 people in hospital drone attack, medical group says
Source: ABC News
“Sudan’s paramilitary forces killed at least 10 people on Thursday in a drone attack that hit a hospital in the south-central part of the country, said a medical group. Doctors Without Borders, also known as MSF, said the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, RSF, launched two drone strikes on Al-Jabalain Hospital in the White Nile province, hitting an operating theater and a maternity ward. The strikes, the latest in an intensifying drone warfare between the army and the RSF, killed 10 people, including seven medical staffers, and injured at least 19 people. Those injured were transferred to a hospital in Kosti, which is around 50 miles (80 kilometers) away, said MSF.” (04/03/26)
- LA: Vehicle hits revelers during Lao New Year celebration
Source: SFGate
“Several people were injured when a vehicle struck revelers at a parade celebrating the Lao New Year on Saturday in rural Louisiana, authorities said. The driver was quickly arrested and charged with impaired driving, police said. Video shared on social media showed multiple people on the ground at the annual event in Broussard and New Iberia. The videos showed firefighters tending to one person trapped beneath the car, which wound up in a ditch along the parade route. Around 15 people were hurt, some seriously, according to the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office. ‘Based on the preliminary investigation, this does not appear to be an intentional act,’ said a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, Rebecca Melancon.” (04/04/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/vehicle-hits-revelers-during-lao-new-year-22189353.php
- US judge upholds decision to toss subpoenas into Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“A United States federal judge has once again batted down a pair of subpoenas from the administration of President Donald Trump seeking information about Jerome Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, the country’s central bank. In a brief, six-page opinion published on Friday, Judge James Boasberg rejected the Department of Justice’s motion to reconsider his earlier ruling rejecting the subpoenas. … For months, pressure had been building from the Trump White House to investigate Powell and push him prematurely from his job as Federal Reserve chair. Powell’s term is slated to expire in May. Much of the Trump administration’s focus has fallen on renovations to the Federal Reserve’s historic 1930s buildings in Washington, DC, which have gone over budget. The administration has pointed to the cost overruns as evidence of malfeasance.” (04/03/26)
- Stop Pretending Military Spending is About “Defense”
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“At the height of the US war in Vietnam, in 1969, the US government spent about $85.5 billion ($761 billion in inflated 2026 dollars) on ‘defense.’ In 1991, when the US deployed hundreds of thousands of troops for Desert Storm, the US government spent about $313 billion, or $750 billion accounting for inflation. In 2004, while fighting wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan, that number was about $450 billion, or $780 billion in 2026 dollars. … The president keeps telling us THIS war will be over Real Soon Now, and he started talking about a $1.5 trillion military budget months before he launched Operation Epic Fail, so the 40% bump clearly isn’t about Iran. In what universe does the already bloated US military need nearly half again as much money next year as this year, and twice as much as it needed during previous wars?” (04/03/26)
- The Republican Plan To Nationalize Elections Is Performative Nonsense
Source: Reason
by Steven Greenhut“Under Donald Trump’s leadership, the GOP’s outlook is simple: Every election they win is a reflection of the will of the people. Every election they lose is rigged. The president never conceded the 2020 election, nor apologized for the January 6 Capitol attack. That was the result of angry partisans taking seriously Trump’s bogus election-fraud claims. Trump continues to push the tiresome rigged-election narrative even though he failed to win the dozens of court cases making such claims. Lately, Republicans aren’t doing well at the polls. … Instead of moderating their policies or engaging in normal soul searching, Republicans are doubling dow — and trying to nationalize elections by promoting something called the SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) America Act.” (04/03/26)
https://reason.com/2026/04/03/the-republican-plan-to-nationalize-elections-is-performative-nonsense/
- The Last Conservatives
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson“What is sometimes described by the aggrandizing term ‘judicial activism’ is not really jurisprudence at all, properly understood: It is what happens when judges (and the legal commentariat) decide on the outcome first — ‘Of course Colorado can use the law to silence those homophobic creeps!’ — and then fill in the legal arguments post hoc and willy-nilly. But the desire for such outcome-driven jurisprudence, long a hallmark of the progressive model of social change, is increasingly prevalent among Republicans, for obvious reasons: There is no one in these United States more offended by a display of principle — or by adherence to official duties — than Donald Trump, who is the most profoundly morally corrupt man ever to occupy the office he holds.” (04/03/26)
- Deuce Bigelow, Political Philosopher
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob“Americans have not endured a military draft since the 1970s. Our bodies and very lives aren’t conscript. Just our fortunes. Not perfect, true, but as political trades go it’s better for equal freedom than slightly lower taxes and a return of the draft, which conscripts some to benefit (the story runs) ‘all.’ The all-volunteer force has produced the world’s best military … without ‘slave’ labor. Comedian Rob Schneider thinks differently.” (04/03/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/04/03/deuce-bigelow-political-philosopher/
- Why Is America Experiencing A Lower Birthrate?
Source: Independent Institute
by Scott Beyer“An oddly divergent narrative has taken hold in the commentary class. On one hand, many argue that America’s declining birthrate is the predictable result of too much prosperity. As societies grow wealthier, more educated, and more urban, they tend to have fewer children — a pattern across nearly every developed nation. Meanwhile a competing view holds that Americans are not having children because they are not wealthy enough — that the prime childbearing generations are facing stagnant wages, rising costs, and downward mobility. These two explanations seem contradictory, yet both contain elements of truth — and even work in tandem.” (04/04/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/04/04/why-is-america-experiencing-a-lower-birthrate/
- A seed of peace in the Iran war
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“Over the past 100 years of wars, one incentive for peace has been a shared interest in preventing or ending famines – by opening humanitarian corridors. Adversaries would pause hostilities to allow food-related products to reach blameless, hungry civilians. Such a moment of goodwill sometimes opened a diplomatic window for a war to end. A similar tenderness toward the innocent is now being expressed during the Iran war. A number of countries including Italy, as well as the United Nations, are probing a diplomatic deal in which Iran would allow ships to sail through the Strait of Hormuz carrying raw materials for agricultural fertilizer made in Gulf Arab countries. Until the current war with Iran started Feb. 28, about a third of the world’s supplies of petroleum-based synthetic fertilizer products passed through the maritime choke point.” (04/03/26)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/0403/A-seed-of-peace-in-the-Iran-war
- The Leading Realist Theorist Ignores Reality to Depict Putin as the Victim
Source: The UnPopulist
by Tom G Palmer“Ideas really do have consequences. That claim may seem obvious to many, but its rejection is a core component of Mearsheimer’s brand of realism, and central to one of the most glaringly erroneous accounts of why Russia attacked Ukraine. Many realists — Mearsheimer chief among them — repeatedly insist that Russia is the victim of bullying by liberal democracies. They claim that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a defensive response rather than an act of imperialist aggression and have rushed to ‘explain’ Russia to the rest of us. That blame-Ukraine narrative not only naively mirrors Kremlin propaganda; it is wholly at odds with reality.” (04/04/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/the-leading-realist-theorist-ignores
- In Defense of Plea Bargaining
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman“In theory, criminal conviction in the US legal system is by the unanimous vote of a jury. In practice, the overwhelming majority of felony convictions are due to plea bargaining, the defendant pleading guilty in exchange for reduced charges or an agreement by the prosecutor to ask for a lower sentence. I have criticized the system in the past, mostly on the grounds that a prosecutor can make it in the interest of an innocent defendant to plead guilty by charging him with additional offenses, not because the prosecutor believes he is guilty of them and can be convicted but to persuade him to plead guilty of the lesser offense whether or not he committed it. It recently occurred to me that, while there are serious problems with plea bargaining as it now exists, there could be uses for it.” (04/04/26)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/in-defense-of-plea-bargaining
- The Mass Media Are Evil, But They’re Also Really Dumb
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“The New York Times has printed an article with the headline ‘A North American Treaty Organization Without America?,’ apparently having spent the entire Ukraine war completely unaware that NATO stands for North ATLANTIC Treaty Organization. At the same time, CNN ran a segment on an American bomber whose plane was shot down over Iran in which analyst Amy McGrath suggested that the Iranians might help the pilot because they’re ‘happy’ he’s bombing their country, saying the pilot would be worried because they don’t know ‘if you’re gonna be picked by somebody who is going to turn you over to the Iranian forces that are gonna use you and capture you, or is the population happy that you’re there?’ Really illustrates how fucked western journalism is, doesn’t it?” (04/04/26)
- Hormuz is not a tool to end the war but how Iran wins the aftermath
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Mohammed Eslami & Zeynab Malakouti“Trump has miscalculated again. He is trying to win the battle; Iran is focused on winning the war. In Tehran’s plan, the strait is not a tool to end the war, but a permanent fixture for its aftermath.” (04/04/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/strait-of-hormuz-and-iran/
- All the pieces lining up for regime change in Iran
Source: New York Post
by Zineb Riboua“‘I think we’ve had regime change’ in Iran, President Donald Trump declared Sunday. In his prime-time address Wednesday night, he repeated it: ‘Regime change has occurred.’ Critics dismissed Trump’s claim out of hand. They’re wrong — because they’re measuring regime change by the wrong standard. ‘Regime change’ doesn’t necessarily mean an invasion, a decapitation strike, a new flag over the capital. That was Iraq and Afghanistan, where American power underwrote both the military campaign and the political reconstruction that followed. Iran is a different problem, and Trump is running a different playbook. Start with a basic fact: Iran is a revolutionary state. Its survival depends on three pillars — an ideology, a patronage network and a coercive apparatus drawing legitimacy from a founding idea. To bring such a system down, all three must fail simultaneously. And Iran was already decomposing when Operation Epic Fury began.” (04/03/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/04/03/opinion/all-the-pieces-are-lining-up-for-regime-change-in-iran/
- Why the US south is rising
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Douglas Carswell“While New York and California are losing population, states like South Carolina and Alabama are not only gaining residents at a record rate, but they are also experiencing rapid economic growth. A recent JL Partners poll captures a shift in perception: 36% of Americans now expect the South to lead economic growth over the next decade — far ahead of the West Coast (23%), Northeast (21%), and Midwest (19%). This is quite a transformation for a region sometimes regarded as a backwater.” (04/03/26)
- Trump’s Iran War: And the Big Fool Says to Press On
Source: Common Dreams
by Joseph Gerson“President Trump apparently has yet to appreciate Abraham Lincoln’s admonition that ‘You can’t fool all of the people all of the time’. Among others, oil and stock markets saw through the flimflam. Energy prices soared once again while stock markets from Manhattan to Manila took a dive. One has to wonder when the billionaires behind Trump, Vance, and their mandarins will conclude that it’s time to pull the plug, to insist on US regime change via the 25th amendment, for Congress to refuse to pick up the bill, or for the generals, admirals, and troops who have tolerated Secretary Hegseth’s white nationalist cheerleading to finally say one simple word: ‘No!'” (04/04/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-s-iran-war-and-the-big-fool-says-to-press-on
- William Blake’s Daddy Issues
Source: Law & Liberty
by Aidan Harte“It’s hard to explain why Blake, a radical possessed by apocalyptic visions and wild fancies, has so eclipsed his peers.” (04/03/26)
- Barter, Media of Exchange, and Colonial America
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Joshua Mawhorter“Where did money get its value? The original purchasing power of an ounce of gold (or another commodity) as money depended on the array of goods and services (or fractions thereof) for which that ounce of gold could have been exchanged in barter in the immediate past (e.g., the day before). In other words, a money’s purchasing power comes from its non-money exchange value. This leads to a logically-complete explanation for the origin of money’s purchasing power. It is also worth mentioning that this process happens spontaneously, through subjective valuations and market exchanges, rather than money being ‘invented.'” (04/03/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/barter-media-exchange-and-colonial-america
- A Strongman’s Kind Of War
Source: The Weekly Dish
by Andrew Sullivan“The current clusterfuck in Iran makes the best case for a republic, and its virtues.” (04/03/26)
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/a-strongmans-kind-of-war-81f
- Why Trump fired Bondi and chose this moment for a Justice Department reset
Source: Fox News
by Jonathan Turley“There is an old joke that scientists switched from lab rats to lawyers because you do not get as attached to lawyers. President Donald Trump has shown the same tendency to avoid becoming attached to either private or government counsel. Attorney General Pam Bondi is only the latest in a long line of lawyers let go by a president who was made famous with the tagline ‘You’re fired.’ There is no evidence of bad blood between President Trump and Bondi. The attorney general has been attacked over her loyalty to the president and has been by his side in some of the most precarious moments, from impeachment to criminal defense. As his ‘apprentices’ learned, this is not personal; it’s business.” (04/03/26)
- Why Trump’s Speech Was So Worrying
Source: Foreign Policy
by Howard W French“Anxious viewers may have expected a clarifying statement of the purpose of the U.S. war against Iran, a vision of its conclusion, or at least a credible timeline for its end. Anyone old enough to remember prime-time speeches by previous presidents during wartime may have hoped for a return to some of the solemnity that has typically marked such moments. On Wednesday, they got none of this. What national and global audiences saw instead was perhaps the clearest evidence yet that the leader of what has long been the world’s predominant superpower is an utterly chaotic thinker, whose aptitude for his job — never obvious to begin with — appears to be in accelerating decline.” (04/03/26)
- Incorrigible Rudeness, The Strategy For Social-Political Impotence
Source: Isonomia Quarterly
by Paul Poenicke“Isonomia Quarterly readers have likely asked the following question: Why are Hayekian ideas so unpopular? Equality under the law and global federalism — two of Hayek’s most cogent ideals — are consequential from numerous perspectives and justified by many strong arguments. A dozen phrases pass through the mind — ‘The best arguments persuade,’ ‘The truth will out,’ ‘Survival of the fittest beliefs,’ ‘Truth emerges from the marketplace of ideas’ — to accost reality. Unfortunately, society is not a truth table, where the input of truth entails the output of further truths. Truth tables are constructs of logic, and reality is not beholden to the results of formal logic and its apparatuses.” (04/03/26)
https://isonomiamag.substack.com/p/incorrigible-rudeness-the-strategy-f6a
- Trump’s Tone-Deaf Sales Pitch for More War
Source: Antiwar.com
by Dennis Kucinich“The President’s address to the nation was a tone-deaf sales pitch for more war, delivered on the first night of Passover. Civilian and military casualties are mounting across the region. Lives are being extinguished while triumphalist and violent rhetoric is offered as justification. War is being escalated in the name of peace, a contradiction that demands moral clarity, not political acceptance. Each life lost carries equal value. No nation’s suffering is expendable. No people exist as collateral.” (04/03/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/kucinich/2026/04/02/trumps-tone-deaf-sales-pitch-for-more-war
- With Millions in Donations From the Industry, Ramaswamy Backs Ohio Crypto Gamble
Source: The American Prospect
by Matthew Cunningham-Cook & Don Wiener“After President Trump went all in on crypto when he returned to office, Vivek Ramaswamy, the front-runner in the GOP primary for governor of Ohio, began betting big on Bitcoin through his asset management startup Strive, with limited success. Now, crypto industry players are pouring millions into funding his campaign. Why? If he becomes governor, the billionaire has pledged to expand state investments in a crypto reserve (starting with state revolving funds) that could result in hundreds of millions of dollars in state assets ending up in Bitcoin. The largest donor to Ramaswamy’s gubernatorial super PAC in 2025 was Ross Stevens, who donated $14 million and is actively involved with Bitcoin and crypto. The second-largest donor was Jeff Yass, who donated $10 million to the PAC.” (04/04/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/04/04/with-millions-from-industry-ramaswamy-backs-ohio-crypto-gamble/
- Is Silicon Valley Shifting Right, Or Just Toward Power?
Source: The Daily Economy
by Paul Mueller“The tech industry’s growing dependence on government contracts and its fear of a ‘billionaire’ tax are reshaping political terrain.” (04/03/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/is-silicon-valley-shifting-rightward-or-just-toward-power/
- The verdict against Meta and Google carries sinister implications
Source: Washington Post
by George F Will“The most sinister idea in modern politics has received a California jury’s endorsement, and much applause. It contradicts democracy’s foundational belief in individual agency. This concept presupposes that individuals can, in common parlance, ‘make up their minds.’ They can assemble and edit their beliefs and convictions. When this idea is diluted, government expands its ambition to curate the public’s consciousness. … The California jury weighed the claims of a now 20-year-old woman who began using YouTube at age 6 and Instagram when 9. She says her many emotional and social problems were caused not by her troubled family life but by those platforms. (Although one of her analysts said she did not talk about them.)” (04/03/26)
- Capitalism and Self-Interest
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman“It took me a while to see it, but Ayn Rand had it right when she said that the suspicion of, if not hostility to, the free-market economy — capitalism — flows from a suspicion of the pursuit of profit, that is, self-interest. Despite the blinding fact that the Declaration of Independence lists ‘the pursuit of happiness’ as among man’s inalienable rights, a dominant, however conflicting cultural theme is that the pursuit of self-interest — egoism — is at best morally tainted and deserving of critical scrutiny.” (04/03/26)
https://sheldonrichman.substack.com/p/tgif-capitalism-the-system-of-self
- Elon: “We Are Making Some Progress”
Source: Town Hall
by Mark Lewis“I think Elon Musk is a good man, not perfect, but then, the guy I look at in the mirror every morning isn’t perfect, either, so I’m not going to knock Elon about that. I don’t know any perfect people. Well, that’s not true. Leftists are perfect, of course. If you don’t think they are perfect, just ask them. There are reasons leftists consider themselves perfect. When you are allowed to set up your own standard of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ (which leftists do), and you judge yourself by your own standard of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, then how can you do anything wrong? If you violate your own standard, you just change the standard and add the ‘wrong’ thing you did to the ‘right’ side of the column. Voila! Perfection! They do it all the time, individually and collectively. But Elon Musk doesn’t do that (I don’t think), and I certainly don’t.” (04/04/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2026/04/04/elon-we-are-making-some-progress-n2673911
- What can Democrats stand for when there’s no Trump to stand against?
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Matt K Lewis“Thanks in large part to President Trump’s disastrous policies, Democrats have a decent shot at not just retaking the House, but maybe even flipping the Senate. Here’s the thing to know: Midterms are a referendum on the incumbent president. And this is especially true when the president is Donald Trump, who dominates every news cycle. He creates weather. He is, in short, always the issue. But what happens when Trump is gone? What happens when Democrats have to defend their record of leadership? What happens when the referendum is on them? Even now — as Dems appear to be surging — polling suggests that fewer than 40% of Americans view the Democratic Party favorably. That’s not exactly a mandate. Yes, voters might choose Democrats as the lesser of two evils this November, but that doesn’t mean Americans are out there buying Democratic foam fingers.” (04/03/26)
- The Trillion-Dollar Illusion
Source: The American Conservative
by George D O’Neill Jr.“The latest American-Israeli aggression against Iran has exposed the United States’ inability to defend our big bases in the Gulf Countries and smaller bases in Iraq. For decades, these countries have had to endure the ire of their populations who are unhappy with the presence of U.S. forces in their lands. Their citizens are painfully aware of the U.S. and Israeli mass destruction and murder of their Muslim brothers. This may become a source of instability as war escalates.” (04/03/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-trillion-dollar-illusion/
- The Federal Punishment of an Innocent Man, Part 3
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger“Another shocking aspect of the Ian Freeman case involved false statements that were knowingly, deliberately, and intentionally made in a post-sentencing press release by the New Hampshire U.S. Attorney’s office that prosecuted Freeman. When I discovered that false and deceptive press release, I was incredulous. What would motivate federal personnel to lie about the Freeman case?” (04/03/26)
https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/the-federal-punishment-of-an-innocent-man-part-3/
- The U.S.-Iran War Is Illegal; Here’s Why That Matters
Source: In These Times
by Phyllis Bennis“The U.S. and Israeli war has, from its very beginning, violated both U.S. domestic and international law. The legal consequences go beyond specific violations. Washington and Tel Aviv’s breaches of the UN Charter and other legal frameworks also undermine the very foundations of the rule of law. Even while international legal institutions too often lack sufficient capacity to enforce their decisions, they still provide a crucial framework for protest, for pressure on individual governments, and for the hope of a future world where the rule of law is paramount. Now, however, that future is in more danger than any other time in recent memory. Right now, Iranian civilians are paying the highest price. But the collapse of the rule of law makes the future more dangerous for everyone else, too.” (04/02/26)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/iran-war-united-states-israel-trump-illegal
- North Korea’s Nuclear Status Requires Urgent Negotiation
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Ted Galen Carpenter“Kim’s regime unsurprisingly portrays its nuclear arsenal as a purely defensive deterrent to possible American and South Korean aggression. DPRK leaders always cite a long list of grievances against Seoul and Washington. Many of them are thoroughly familiar, especially the annual joint military exercises featuring air, ground, and naval forces from the two countries. Some of Pyongyang’s complaints are new, however, and they specifically cite Washington’s military actions against Venezuela and Iran.” (04/03/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/north-koreas-nuclear-status-requires-urgent-negotiation
- Pink Flame of Liberty, 04/05/26
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“The ‘Attractive’ Soft-Pedalling of Christian Nationalism.” (04/05/26)
- Unattended Baggage, episode 335
Source: Unattended Baggage
“This time, it’s personal.” (04/04/26)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-335-this-time-its-personal
- The Focus Group, 04/04/26
Source: The Bulwark
“Swing Voters Absolutely HATE Trump’s Iran War (w/ Ashley Parker).” (04/04/25)
- Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 04/04/26
Source: Freedom Works
“Wayne Crews, Competitive Enterprise Institute ‘Ten Thousand Commandments.'” (04/04/26)
https://internetradiopros.com/freedomworks/?name=2026-04-04_zfw04032026.mp3
- The Brian Nichols Show, 04/04/26
Source: Lions of Liberty
‘He Used ChatGPT to DUMP His Girlfriend?!” (04/04/26)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/tbns-he-used-chatgpt-to-dump-his-girlfriend
- Does America Still Make Stuff?
Source: Reason
“Free trade did not obliterate manufacturing.” (04/03/26)
https://reason.com/video/2026/04/03/america-still-makes-stuff/
- The Tom Woods Show, episode 2749
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“Israeli Interests and U.S. Interests Aren’t the Same.” (04/03/26)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2749-israeli-interests-and-u-s-interests-arent-the-same/
- The Chris Hedges Report, 04/03/26
Source: The Chris Hedges Report
“Will There be a Ground Invasion of Iran? (w/ Col. Larry Wilkerson).” (04/03/26)
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/will-there-be-a-ground-invasion-of
- Rising, 04/03/26
Source: The Hill
“Lindsey Granger gives her lens on Attorney General Pam Bondi being fired by President Trump, reportedly due to her lack of success in prosecuting Trump’s enemies and her handling of the Epstein files.” (04/03/26)
- The Kyle Anzalone Show, 04/03/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Trump’s Iran War Is a Catastrophic Miscalculation! US to Lift Sanction of Iran as Oil Prices Spike.” (04/03/26)